This Day Again
by SomeDamn Author
Summary: One-shot. Naruto reminisces as he trudges up the hill with his grand-daughter.


**NOTE : **

**The story moves in reverse, except the final section. I have no idea where this idea popped up from, but I had to pen it quick. This one probably suffers from lack of a rather definitive setting. Fill in the gaps, as long as it isn't too wide ^.^" **

* * *

**This Day Again**

* * *

**Present Time, This Day**

They trudged up the hill, the two of them. The little girl showed not a hint of any discomfort, despite the rather sharp chill that danced in the wind. Dawn was arriving in its own time, yet there was nothing about her Grandpa choosing to take her for a walk just then that seemed odd to her.

As she let go of his hands to pull her sleeves _just_ a little bit closer, and rubbed her tiny hands, she couldn't resist the odd glance at the old, rather stoic man. He walked beside her in a measure pace, his eyes constantly looking ahead. She tried wearing the same expression and looking ahead the way he was, but only fell to the temptation of stealing another glance at him seconds later.

Grandpa Naruto was _big. _He was tall, and she was aware of it when his gaze fixed her, from above a rather regal jawline and a fearsome nose. Age had caught up to him, yet it seemed as if he wasn't running away from it. Instead, he was always walking, calmly. He was _lithe_, clean-shaven and rather…she couldn't put her finger on it. Something about Grandpa had always made her tone go to a whisper, eyes wide and assume a story-teller's guise. There was _mystery_ shrouding old Grandpa. He'd visit often, yet never spoke much. She knew he enjoyed walks, and she knew Mum liked him lots too, though the two of them never spoke beyond a few sentences at a time.

"Hey, Grandpa Naruto? I'm gunna go up the hill and wait."

His eyes diverted, unblinking, to look at her. He nodded. "You do that, young lady."

She paused for a second, surprise flitting across her face. On another day, Grandpa might've simply nodded. To hear his rather smooth, quiet tone acknowledge her was always a _thing._

She smiled, before taking off on a run.

He stopped walking, standing, a hint of pain on his visage; A moment of reminiscence, as it threatened to crash down on him with the intent to destroy.

* * *

**Five**

"_Fool."_

_Naruto was the one who spoke. His eyes were full of cold, empty intent as he fixed the younger blonde-haired man with a powerful gaze._

"_Fool who, old man? You twisted fucking degenerate, you-" __The younger man didn't seem fazed, almost as if he'd seen the stare only too often, had been broken by it time and time again. _

_His eyes, on the other hand, seemed to dance with unparalleled fury. They never stayed still, taking in everything about the man who held him down. _

"_Always the foul-mouthed brat, Boruto. Shouldn't you watch your mouth?"_

_The older man's calm exterior belied the intent with which his fist crashed down on his captive, his son. _

"…_you-AAAAAARGHMPH" He held the younger man down, and the fact that the captive could still writhe about was a testament to his enormous strength. _

_Pain, fury and hatred caressed Boruto. He wanted to __**destroy **__the old man atop him. He wanted to watch as he writhed in pain the way he was doing so now. Yet, beneath the haze of pain, he couldn't dodge the fear. It was drawing, ever so closer._

_The end. The end. The end. The end. The end. The end._

_Vaguely, he felt the man's palm close down over his neck._

"_The end, Boruto-kun."_

_It was typical of the man above him, he knew. Cold, remorseless…uncaring. He felt the emptiness behind the sunken eyes of the man. He felt those empty pools of cobalt stare at him for __**just **__a second longer than they should have. _

_And that was enough for him, as a smile rose. That one extra second. "The end, old m-"_

_Death came to Boruto, swift._

* * *

**Four**

_They stood, alone. _

_The younger man, Boruto, spoke first._

"_You've won, haven't you? As you always do, every time, in your twisted head." _

_The older man smiled, a mirthless scream. _

"_You've no idea how much I hate you…hate that smile. You've no idea how badly I've wanted to see it break, how much I've wanted to break it myself."_

_The old man nodded calmly as he acknowledged his combatant's snarl. His movements seemed near robotic, as he unhooked his armor, letting it fall. He didn't need the protection. Not this time. Not against him._

"_You hypocrite. Twist it all, over and over and over again, in your own god-damn head, so that one day you can look back and know were right, always, isn't that it? I know you. I KNOW YOU. Ahhh, I'll know one thing before tonight ends, old man Naruto. I'll know that I saw more than you. I'll know that you could never, __**never **__hope to understand me, and I'll know that you'll die one day, choked by your own myopic little view of how things are, you ignorant old-"_

_They both leapt forward, as if they knew exactly what would happen._

* * *

**Three**

_A strange sensation seemed to grip his gut and tossed him, as he looked at the image on the screen. _

_This was it. This was the moment of decision. One last job, one last man to track and kill. One last life to snuff out, one view of the dark world around that he had to destroy._

_Is it because they were fundamentally different, a killer and his mark? The enforcer of justice, and the criminal were, after all, part of the same system. One worked inside it, the other worked out. The predator was always shielded by the sense of right. He was tasked with the grand job of peacemaker, after all. _

_And yet…and yet…after all these years, he hated himself for it. It was a sensation that only lasted a second, but the doubt seemed to meld into his shadow a moment too long. He knew it would disappear soon. He knew that when dawn arrived, he'd be filled with satisfying emptiness again, that the void would play home for him like it always did._

_Yet, right then, there was no sun of happiness he could hold onto. Not anymore. There was only the cold, unforgiving sense of justice. And to perceive that, he told himself, he must trust. Must trust, must trust, must trust…_

_The litany played over and over in his head, as he tracked him down. Over and over. _

* * *

**Two**

_He held her close. She was inconsolable. _

"_He's gone…he's gone…he's gone…"_

_He knew, yet he could do nothing. "He…he…what about my daughter? What about…what about…"_

_He tried. He tried his hardest to cry as he held the young woman named Sarada. She was only in her twenties, it was too young an age, he knew, to comprehend reality. If her husband Boruto had left…that meant-_

_He tried. Yet he couldn't coerce the tears he knew he should be crying._

_He clutched the note tightly in his palm, reveling in the utter agony of loss and anger. _

'_I see it. I see more than you. I see more than anyone. I am outside the system now. Let the game begin, old man Naruto.' __The note was scrawled in an untidy hand, and wasn't signed._

"_He's gone…he's gone…he's gone…"_

_He finally felt the lone tear slide across his cheek, but the girl had already fainted out of exhaustion by then. Boruto had finally broken out of the system._

* * *

**One**

_They trudged up the hill, the two of them. The little boy named Boruto showed slight hints of discomfort, apparently not taking a liking to the rather sharp chill that danced in the wind. Dawn was arriving in its own time, and everything about a walk at that point in time annoyed him. _

_As he let go of his hands, he knew better than to voice his discomfort over it. Resigning that the old man was just incomprehensibly crazy, he walked. And even as he did so, he couldn't help stealing a glance. _

_He walked beside him in a measure pace, his eyes constantly looking ahead. The boy tried wearing the same expression and looking ahead the way he was, but only fall to the temptation of stealing another glance at him seconds later. _

"_Hey, Dad? I'm gunna go up the hill and wait."_

_Dad was big. He was tall, and he was aware of it when his gaze fixed him, from above a rather regal jawline and a fearsome nose. He was lithe, thin yet muscular. They shared the exact same blonde hair, yet his Dad's was tied back in a neat, calculated ponytail while his ran wild. Both their eyes seemed unimaginably blue, yet while his danced, here and there, always alive, his Dad's was fixed, as if experience had beaten all the enthusiasm out of the pleasure of being able to see. He was clean-shaven and rather…he couldn't put his finger on it. Something about Dad had always made him stand…made him want to be __**amazing**__, so that one day he could see a sense of acknowledgment in those eyes. There was always mystery shrouding old Dad. He really couldn't see how Mum had __**liked**__ this grumpy old coot._

_His eyes diverted, unblinking, to look at him. He simply nodded. The boy seemed to wait, as if expecting a word, but as the moment passed, so did Boruto's expectation that Naruto would say anything._

* * *

**Present Time, This Day Again**

"You're _finally_ here, Grandpa!"

He stood still, as the first rays of dawn crept across the sky, a hint of pink on a blanket of blue. Then, ever so slowly, his eyes focused on the little girl, staring at the sky in quiet awe. A thousand untold thoughts seemed to touch the corners of his mind, a thousand unsaid words of love and adoration and fear and apologies.

"_Hey dad? The boy stood still, not breaking his gaze from the sky. There was but a small distance between them._

_"It's beautiful-"_

"Grandpa?"

She stepped back to give him a shy hug. He could sense her blue eyes receding quickly and looking away towards the sky again, her blonde hair swaying ever so slightly with the wind.

"It's beautiful."

* * *

**End.**


End file.
